Phenotypic plasticity of muscle

适应能力是生命的一个基本属性。表型可塑性促进了个体的生存，而进化适应增加了物种在特定环境中的生存。产生或经历机械压力的组织，如骨骼肌，在进化和表型水平上表现出特别高的适应性。由于骨骼肌有两个主要作用，即运动的马达和蛋白质和碳水化合物的主要储备，它的适应性反应必须反映这两个角色。我的研究计划的基本前提是，肌肉的功能能力是由不断变化的环境条件下运动、繁殖和生存的需要之间的妥协决定的。我们研究鱼类和扇贝，因为它们与介质的热平衡、它们在繁殖方面的广泛投资、骨骼肌纤维类型的分离和它们刻板的游泳模式有助于识别纤维特异性反应以及它们与运动能力的联系。我们先前的研究发现，磷脂的变化是线粒体氧化能力改变的核心。我们提出的研究将1)利用食物改变鲑鱼和扇贝的磷脂组成，以探索线粒体磷脂精细结构的功能作用；2)评估大小和食物对扇贝逃避反应表现和肌肉代谢能力的影响；3)确定内收肌的使用和代谢设计的变化是否伴随着运动扇贝和更久坐的扇贝贝壳形态的显著变化。

Adaptability is a fundamental attribute of life. Phenotypic plasticity facilitates individual survival whereas evolutionary adaptations increase a species' survival in a given environment. Tissues that produce or undergo mechanical stress, such as skeletal muscle, show a particularly high degree of adaptability, on evolutionary and phenotypic levels. As skeletal muscle has two major roles, that of the motor for movement and that of major reserve of protein and carbohydrate, its adaptive responses must reflect both roles. The underlying premise of my research program is that functional capacities of muscle are set by the compromise between the needs of locomotion, reproduction and survival under changing environmental conditions. We study fish and scallops as their thermal equilibration with the medium, their extensive investment in reproduction, the separation of skeletal muscle fibre types and their stereotypic swimming patterns facilitate identification of fibre specific responses and of their links to locomotor capacities. Our previous research identified phospholipid changes as central in modifications of mitochondrial oxidative capacity. Our proposed research will 1) use diet to change phospholipid composition in trout and scallops to explore the functional roles of the fine structure of mitochondrial phospholipids; 2) evaluate the impact of size and diet on escape response performance and muscle metabolic capacities in scallops and 3) determine whether changes in the use and metabolic design of the adductor muscle accompany the marked shifts in shell morphology between athletic and more sedentary scallops.